An early evening thunderstorm across southern Custer County produced a brief tornado touchdown. No damage was reported.
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The episode as NWS LBF wrote it up.
An early evening thunderstorm across southern Custer County produced a brief tornado touchdown. No damage was reported.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 2:16 PM CST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 316 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE ATM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN STRONGLY SHEARED THROUGH TUESDAY AND BEYOND. MOISTURE WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE UP THE HIGH PLAINS SUCH THAT BY MONDAY AFTN...DEW POINTS OVER NCNTL NEB COULD BE NEAR OR EVEN IN THE LOWER 60S. STORMS COULD DEVELOP LATE SUNDAY NIGHT WITH THE APPROACH OF AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE CURRENTLY OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THE WETTER NAM SOLN IS FAVORED BUT THE OFFICIAL FCST IS A BLEND OF THE GFS AND NAM TO TONE DOWN THE HIGH POPS AND QPF THE NAM IS SHOWING. ALL MODELS...NAM...GFS...UKMET...GFS ENSEMBLE...ECMWF... NGM SUGGEST ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT REDEVELOPING LATE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY MORNING WITH MORE SCATTERED STORMS DEVELOPING LATE MONDAY. SOME SOLNS EVEN SUGGEST STORM ACTIVITY REDEVELOPING TUESDAY. THE BRUNT OF THE SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR OVER THE HIGH PLAINS AND SOUTHWARD ACROSS KS BUT A FEW STRAY STORMS AND PERHAPS A MCS OR TWO ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH WRN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEB. IN THE WAKE OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT...CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO DRIFT DOWN TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY AT THE LATEST PRODUCING COOLER AND MORE STABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS. BUT THIS IS ONLY IN PREPARATION FOR A DEEP CYCLOGENESIS EVENT WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN WEDNESDAY AND END FRIDAY. THE PARAMETERS APPEAR TO BE COMING TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER MAJOR ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER AND TORNADOES FOR PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT ANOTHER LONG WAVE TROF WILL SWEEP ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE GFS ENSEMBLE...OPERATIONAL GFS AND ECMWF SUGGEST 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN WILL FALL DURING THE NEXT 7 DAYS ACROSS THE FCST AREA. 20 TO 40 PERCENT POPS SHOW THROUGHOUT THE FCST DURING THIS TIME. INDICATIONS ARE WRN AND NCNTL NEB WILL REMAIN ON THE COOLER LESS SEVERE SIDE OF THE STORM SYSTEM BUT RAIN IS EXPECTED AS STORMS LIFT NORTH OF A WARM FRONT DRAPED ACROSS KS OR RAIN WRAPS SOUTH AROUND THE BACK SIDE OF A DEEP SFC LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WHICH WILL TRACK ACROSS KS WEDNESDAY AND INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST FRIDAY. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS ACTIVE NORTHWEST FLOW PATTERN BRINGS SEVERAL WEAK DISTURBANCES ACROSS THE REGION INTO TOMORROW. HAVE HELD OFF ON ADDING THUNDER TO EITHER TAF SITE...KLBF AND KVTN...AS THUNDERSTORMS WILL ONLY HAVE A LIMITED IMPACT TIME TO THE TERMINAL SITE...AND WILL BE SCATTERED IF NOT ISOLATED IN NATURE...WITH ONLY A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF PASSING OVER THE AIRPORT. THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BE MONITORED CLOSELY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR AMENDMENTS OVERNIGHT. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && CDC/MJM
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 442 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2008 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-012145- SHERIDAN-EASTERN CHERRY-KEYA PAHA-BOYD-BROWN-ROCK-HOLT-GARDEN- GRANT-HOOKER-THOMAS-BLAINE-LOUP-GARFIELD-WHEELER-ARTHUR-MCPHERSON- LOGAN-CUSTER-DEUEL-KEITH-PERKINS-LINCOLN-CHASE-HAYES-FRONTIER- WESTERN CHERRY- 442 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 2008 /342 PM MDT SAT MAY 31 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. A WEAK SURFACE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO TRIGGER ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN WESTERN AND SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. CONDITIONS HAVE BECOME UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON...BUT DRY AIR IN THE MIDDLE ALTITUDES AND IN THE NEAR SURFACE LAYER WILL KEEP THE RAINFALL FROM BEING TO INTENSE AND LARGE HAIL IS NOT LIKELY. HOWEVER...SMALL HAIL IS POSSIBLE AND STRONG DOWNBURST TYPE WIND GUSTS MAY EXCEED 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE WEAK FRONT IS EXPECTED TO DRIFT INTO WESTERN NEBRASKA...AND OPEN FLOW FROM THE GULF COAST WILL BRING AN INCREASE IN AVAILABLE MOISTURE. AS A RESULT...THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND. THE PRIMARY RISK IS EXPECTED TO BE WEST OF A LINE FROM MERRIMAN...THROUGH MULLEN AND NORTH PLATTE...TO STOCKVILLE. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN MONDAY AND TUESDAY AS A STRONGER FRONT MOVES THROUGH CENTRAL AND WESTERN NEBRASKA. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONTINUE THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK WITH LATER OUTLOOKS REFINING DETAILS CONCERNING SEVERE POTENTIAL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED SUNDAY...MONDAY AND TUESDAY. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE MASEK
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:04 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A funnel cloud was spotted 1 to 2 miles south of Oconto. No damage was reported and the event lasted 20 to 30 seconds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, May 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 99602.